Severus
My alarm went off at seven this morning. Dad went to the pub last night, so I could have stayed in bed another few hours before he got up, but I didn't want to risk it. Sometimes he manages to get up early, even after a night of hard drinking.
I don't know how he does that, Lily says whenever her Dad has been out with his mates all night he stays in bed until mid-afternoon when her mum shouts at him.
Anyway when I got downstairs I saw an owl pecking at the grimy kitchen window. Good job I got down before Dad did, he'd have done mental.
I took the heavy letter from its leg and shooed it out. Then I turned it over and saw my name. My heart squeezed. I'd been expecting this for a long time.
Dear Mr Snape,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Jane Horty
Deputy Headmistress
A thrill ran through me as I thought of Hogwarts. All my daydreams were so close to coming true. Me and Lily, off to Hogwarts together. I didn't doubt she'd got a similar letter this morning.
My pleasant musings were interrupted by footsteps on the stairs. I swung round panicking, clutching the letter stupidly in front of me. Thankfully it was my mother. My heartbeat returned to normal, until I saw that her lip was bleeding slightly. The familiar anger kindled inside me.
"Mum…" I began,
"What's that you've got there?" She asked in a tone of forced normalcy. I didn't reply. She shot me a pleading look, begging me not to mention it, to pretend everything was fine. One day I'm not going to let it rest. When I've been to Hogwarts I'm going to come back and make her talk about the sham that is her marriage. I know how close she's been to leaving him, but she stays, because she says I need a father. Not one like him I don't. And not one that I hear having a shouting match with my mum every night until I stuff my head under the pillow and hum myself to sleep. And it's not me she stays for, days can pass without her speaking one word to the son who ruined her marriage, it's him.
For the past few years I've been wishing, hoping, that Dad will go back to how he was, before that day when he found out. When mum couldn't hide my magic anymore and she told him. He was a great Dad, we'd go to the park and play football, and he could never work out how I managed to score despite how useless I was. Mum never took much notice of me, so it was just him, me and him, father and son against the world. He stopped being my father that day.
I don't wish anymore. I've used up my hope. I'm just waiting for the day when I can come back, and jinx him till his skin crawls, till he realises how amazing what mum and I can do is. Then he'll know who's in charge in the world, and he'll beg for us to help him. Well there's no way I'm going to, and if I have anything to do with it my mum won't either.
But for today I did pretend everything was fine, although I hated every word coming out of my mouth.
"It's my Hogwarts letter" I replied, finally, "it's come"
"Oh" she said, and she couldn't stop her face falling a little, she's always wished I was a squib, strange trait in a pure-blood, but then mum's never really had the proper respect for magic.
"Well we'd better go down to London to get your things soon then, I'm sure we can pick up most things second hand."
Fifth hand more like, if my muggle clothes are anything to go by. At least there's a uniform at Hogwarts, so no-one will see my scruffy wierd clothes, but I don't think wizards would care anyway, they're not like muggles, they don't tease you for how you dress. Lily's proof of that. She doesn't care how I look, unlike her horrible sister.
"I'm going out." I said shortly to my mum. She nodded, but as I was walking out of the door she said
"We'll tell your dad tonight, alright?"
"Can't wait" I muttered, pretending not to hear the sigh behind me, as I walked as quickly as I could away from the house, to the playground.
Her familiar red hair shone out like a beacon as I went through the gate. She had her back to me, watching the ducks in the grimy pond.
"Hey up" I said to the back of her head. She turned and smiled.
"Hey up yourself!"
I grinned back as I saw the letter she was holding. Suddenly it didn't matter that dad was going to explode when I got back, and that this letter was going to cut the last thread between us. Because I was going to Hogwarts, with Lily.
A/N: Thanks for the character suggestions, i've started some of the characters from Harry's year, we'll see how they go! I always wondered how Snape became the person he was and this sort of shows why I think he did the things he did.